At The Mercy of Fate
by HiddenInTheShadows98
Summary: When Gary and Ash finally meet again after Ash has traveled the world, how much that they have grown up is CLEARLY evident. They both vow to become friends and not rivals, as that hurt both of them in ways they don't understand. They don't tell the other that they feel the way they do, but who knows what will happen at the mercy of fate... Palletshipping Rated M for language
1. Prolouge

_I glanced at the Snorlax clock on the wall, watching the second hand slowly move across the stomach of the Pokémon clock, the slow ticking resonating through the room. I ran my fingers through my thick, spiky hair, sighing as I did so. _ I thought he was going to be here by now,_ I thought anxiously, hoping something had not happened to my best friend and rival. _ Only Arceus knows what that exuberant and enthusiastic ball of energy could have gotten into. _ I chuckled, knowing very well what he could do. I hope that Pikachu and that Brock kid have stopped him from doing something so stupid that it would hurt him in any way. He didn't deserve that._

_He really didn't. He's such an amazing person, and I knew that from the beginning. His black hair, fashioned similar to mine in bold spikes, was so soft, and black as a piece of coal. His sienna eyes, so beautiful and breath-taking, keeping you locked in an intense staring match, never wanting to break contact. His kind and caring personality, not giving a damn about a Pokémon's history or back-story, just trying to help it, and just be its friend. His smartness, finding a way to win almost every Pokémon battle he had, even if he had type disadvantage. He just didn't deserve to be hurt, both physically, mentally, or emotionally. No scars deserved to maim his beautiful body or his fighting spirit._

_Little did I know that I may be the one to do just that – have him get hurt, only at the hands of the one he loves._

* * *

Authors Note ~ Oh, hai! (: Thanks for reading, if you are reading, that is. I just wanted to say that this is my first fanfic and that I am a bit of an inexperienced writer, so if you have any comments, please rate and review! I'm always open to suggestions or criticism, as long as they're not too harsh. Aaaanyways, thanks for reading! I hope you stick around to see more, cause there will be, if I at least get a couple reviews of people asking for more. Thanks! ~ HiddenInTheShadows (You can just call me Shadows if you want ^^)


	2. Seeing You In A Whole New Light

**AN ~** Herro! (: I wanna thank you qfaceq for the wonderful review I got. I know the prologue was short, but… ah well, it's hopefully gonna be made up ^^. Anyways, I was planning on making this fanfic mostly from Gary's POV, with maybe a few chapters here and there in Ash's POV. Oh, I'm planning to update this weekly on Wednesdays, unless I don't get at least a review asking for more... haha(: Oh, and I'm currently working on finding a way to draw a chibi Umbreon with a chibi Pikachu for the story picture ^^. HOW CUTE IS THAT?! Hahaha… spaz moment… haha…ha… uhmm anyways (lol sorry I can get weird…) without further ado, I present chapter 1!

* * *

**Chapter 1 ~ Seeing You In a Whole New Light**

Gary Oak pushed his reading glasses up his nose, reading the scientific report in front of him. _A load of bullcrap, as usual. I hired terrible assistants._ He sighed, removing the glasses that made him look even smarter and putting them into the pocket of his lab coat. He took one last glance at the Pokémon egg in the incubator close to his desk before shedding the long white coat and heading towards the door.

"UMBREON!" he called, flicking the light switch near the door to his office, enveloping his somewhat disorganized office in a veil of darkness. "IT'S TIME TO GO!"

"Um, umbre, breon!" came a small voice near his left leg, and he felt the black cat-like Pokémon brush up against his leg. Gary just chuckled and scratched his faithful Pokémon behind the ears as they continued the hike to the outside world, and then his home.

Once Gary had reached said home, he collapsed on the couch, exhausted from dealing with his assistants, all of whom weren't the sharpest Tauros of the herd. He pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping that Arceus could somehow turn his assistants into people who actually had brains. _That's too much to hope for, though._

Getting up, he slowly dragged his fatigued body to the kitchen, or more specifically, his freezer. He picked out one of his favorite frozen meals and tore the box open, almost about to eat it frozen solid. After punching the amount of time needed to cook the food into the microwave and hitting start, he sat down at his, ironically, oak wood table, his head resting in his hands. Umbreon and a little Eevee climbed up next to him and cooed at him, hoping to divert his attention. But it wasn't the two Pokémon that did. On the contrary, it was the ringing of his video phone, the loud sound of a screaming Chatot filling the air. _Who the hell is calling me at this ungodly hour?!_ He walked over, hoping he was at least decent-looking, and ran his hands through his cinnamon colored spikes.

"Hello?" he asked tiredly, not paying attention to the name on the screen, until the caller's face flooded the screen, illuminating my tired (yet totally sexy and handsome) features. I froze, leaf green eyes wide, unable to even speak.

"GARY!" said the voice of the boy on the screen. "Long time no see! How's Umbreon? Pikachu misses her a lot..." he trailed off as a large mass of yellow, brown, and red fur blocked the young researcher's view of his old friend.

"PIKA! Pi, Pika, pikachuuu," the Pikachu on the screen whined, looking for his love.

"U-u-uhhmm, Umbreon's fine, Ash. And hello to you too Pikachu." Gary said, his voice sounding more and more irritated the longer he spoke. "Why in the name of Arceus are you calling me at..." he paused, looking at the clock, "11 o' clock at night?!"

Ash looked guilty. "Ohhh yeahh... forgot Sinnoh time is different than Unova time, heh heh."

"Ashy-boy," I said, using the pet name I came up with that peeved off the boy in question so much, "You need to learn to remember the time zones, you idiot." I yawned, forgetting about the food that had long since been heated up. "Now if you'll excuse me, Ashy-boy," I said, watching him become annoyed. _Arceus, is he cute when he's annoyed at – no Gary, not now._ "I am going to go to sleep. Goodnight." And with that, I hung up. But not before Ash and Pikachu got a good look at the sleeping Umbreon on the oak kitchen table, the little Eevee snuggled asleep in her side, looking quite happy.

Instead of waking the peaceful pair and forcing them to go upstairs to their beds as I usually would, I just trudged upstairs to do what they were doing – sleep. While changing into my pajamas, my mind began to wander. But I only focused on one thing in particular – Ash. _Why did he call me? I mean, not that I'm upset. I got to see his beautiful face again, those breathtaking sienna eyes... _Suddenly though, I realized I needed to stop thinking about him. _I'm not gay... I can't be. I will admit that Ash is cute, but I don't swing like that. Hell, I'll get some girl hanging on me like her life depended on it every other week._ I sighed, knowing the truth, and the lies, in my words. Although I did get a girl dying over my smartness and my sexiness every week, no girl would tame me, no girl would satisfy me. There was one person, and one person only I wanted. Take a gander at who it is.

If you guessed the black-haired, sienna-eyed boy that had called me just to say hi, then you would be right.

* * *

**AN~** So… whaddya think of this chapter? Just setting up some of the background for the main event of the story, if you know what I mean. (: Anyways, please rate and review. That's what'll keep me going! :)


	3. If Only You Knew

**AN ~ **Herro all you amazing people :) I have another chapter today, and as promised to qfaceq, it is a long one! I hope you guys like it. :D WARNING ~ This chapter does use some mild language, and I think you'll notice that my language will get worse and worse as time goes on.

Oh, also wanted to say thanks to qfaceq, as they are now my editor(: you're awesome, and you're gonna make sure everything is perfect :DD

* * *

**Chapter 2 ~ If Only You Knew**

A bright sun beam hit my face, instantly waking me up. I groaned and rolled over, shoving my face into the pillow next to me, hoping the blinding light would go away. But it didn't. And soon, the loud sound of my favorite band echoed throughout my room. I halfheartedly hit the off button on my alarm clock and sat up, stretching as I did so. My t-shirt that I had worn to bed stretched up with me, barely revealing the washboard abs that I had, thanks to all the working out I did, both on my own spare time, along with some at work. _Eww, work._ I groaned, and got up to take a nice, hot shower. _Maybe that'll wake me up._ And that it did. As I was washing my cinnamon colored hair, it hit me – it's Saturday. I have today off. _Arceus, thank you._ I sighed happily, almost about to go back to sleep. But I couldn't. So I trudged down to the first floor of my small two-bedroom home, ready to make myself a nice plate of waffles with oran berries.

I smiled as I entered my bright and sunny kitchen. Umbreon and Eevee were still asleep, cuddled up together. _Funny. Umbreon reminds me of myself, and Eevee reminds me of Ash. I wish I could cuddle up with Ash, hug him, hold him close. I wonder if he smells good?_ Crap, I was thinking about Ash again. Goddammit. I mentally slapped myself for letting my intelligent mind wander to the cute boy that I had known since I could walk and talk. I smiled, remembering all the fun things Ash and I did as kids, and the trouble we got into, and continued to do so the whole time I made breakfast.

* * *

After eating breakfast and cleaning my dirty dishes, I thought, _Hey, why don't I go out for a walk with Eevee and Umbreon? It _is _a nice day outside._ I decided I would, and gently shook the sleeping pair awake. _How did they sleep through me eating? I've been told I eat as loud as a Loudred talks._ When they both were up, although a bit bleary-eyed, I said, "Hey, how about we go out for a walk guys? Does that sound fun? Maybe we should go visit Professor Rowan today, or maybe Daisy. Or go call Mrs. Ketchum and see how she is holding up without Ash. I know she loves talking to us." I was greeted with a chorus of "Um, Umbreon!" and "Eevee, veee!" as they both said yes.

"Great, let me go get changed." I smiled and gently patted the two Pokémon behind the ears and went back upstairs. I grabbed a pair of tight jeans and my signature purple t-shirt. After making sure that my cinnamon spikes were gelled and styled to my liking, I went back downstairs, and headed to the door. And when I opened the door, surprise surprise, Ash was standing there, hand held up, about to knock on my door. I froze yet again, surprised he was here.

"A-a-Ash?" I stuttered, unable to form any sort of thought or sentence.

"Oh. Hey Gary. Using Alakazam to sense me before I knocked?" he joked, smiling widely as he did so. My heart literally stopped beating. _That smile…_

"Hah, you wish Ashy-boy. No, actually I was going to take Umbre-" I started to say before being oh-so-rudely interrupted by Ashy's bright yellow rodent as it blitzed past me, in an attempt to reach its one true love.

"PIKAAAAA~" Pikachu cried, nuzzling up to the dark-type eeveeloution.

"Breeonn~" Umbreon replied, returning the affectionate gesture.

The two Pokémon, with Eevee tagging along, left to go catch up on the missed times since they had last seen each other.

"Cute, huh?" a voice said to me, pulling me out of my thoughts. Ash smiled again. "They really like each other. Who knows, maybe you'll have more little Eevee's running around the house soon."

"Haha, maybe Ashy-boy. Maybe." At the pet name, the shorter boy in question grew slightly irate, his face starting to turn a light shade of red.

"Don't call me that," he gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Hah, no can do." I hesitantly reached out to mess up the soft spikes of the younger boy's coal black hair, and his sienna eyes screamed murder. Which only made me laugh.

"Why are you here Ash?" I questioned, still thoroughly surprised at the visit.

"Well, I decided that I'm going to live in Sinnoh, since I'm 19 now, and don't need to live with my mother." He said proudly, his chest puffing out. "In fact, my house is just down the road from here. It's practically next door to your lab."

My heart rate skyrocketed when he said that. _Oh, _he_ bought the house for sale next to the lab. Well… crap._ I silently cursed.

"Maybe I'll even stop by the lab and say hi, or annoy you, or help with the Pokémon." He said sweetly, looking at me with hopeful and absolutely irresistible eyes. "You would let me help feed and play with the Pokémon, wouldn't you **_Gar-bear_**_?_" I gritted my teeth at that name. I hated that name as much as Ash hated me calling him Ashy-boy.

"Fine. But promise me you will never **ever** use that name again."

"Sorry, can't do that." He chuckled, and waltzed into my home. "I might, though, if you manage to catch me." And with that, he took off running through my house.

"ASH KETCHUM GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOU RUNNING THROUGH MY HOUSE!" I screeched, past my wits end with this boy. _ Why did it have to be him?_ I sighed as I took off at a leisurely pace to go get the overly energetic boy.

Ash crashed into me a few minutes later, and I managed to catch him before he smashed his adorable face into the floor. But I caught him in a terribly awkward position. I hoisted him to a standing position, my arms wrapped around his small waist, and his hands holding onto my arms like a vice.

"Thanks." He muttered, quite embarrassed, his cheeks flooding with a pink flush.

"What happened to your face Ashy?" I teased, knowing full well what happened.

Ash's eyes widened in horror. "Nothing, it's just so hot now that I've stopped sprinting and causing havoc in your house," he said simply, detaching himself from me.

"Mhmm, suuuure." I said, dropping the subject. "Hey Ash? I have a question for you…" I said, looking him in his adorable sienna eyes.

He looked straight into my green eyes. "Yeah?"

"Uhmmm… I guess I was wondering... since it's been years since I stopped training, and now that you're done training for now, I was wondering... Can we forget this whole 'rival' thing we've got going on? I think we should be friends again, just like when we were kids..." I asked, looking away, trying to hide the blush I had. _Curse you, stupid crush._

Ash said nothing for a few seconds, and I got worried. But suddenly, the smaller boy wrapped his arms around my midsection in a surprisingly strong bear hug and practically screamed, "I thought you'd never ask Gary!"

I laughed, and said, "So I take it that's a yes?"

"YES!" Ash said quite happily, and it made me feel… warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"Hey Ash? You're choking me..." I said, trying to detach the overly-enthusiastic boy from myself.

"Oh. Sorry." He said, and let go.

"It's ok." I smiled my famous smile at him and said, "Hey, how about you and Pikachu come along with us on our walk? Plus, I don't think we'd be able to keep Pikachu away from Umbreon."

Ash nodded, and then said, "Cover your ears."  
"Why?" I asked.

"Just do it." he replied. And I did. And thank Arceus I did.

"PIKACHU!" He screamed. "WE'RE GOING WITH GARY, UMBREON, AND EEVEE ON THEIR WALK!"

Holy crap that kid is loud. He should be an Exploud. I grumbled quite loudly as we waited for the three Pokémon to appear, and then headed out the door.

* * *

It was around dinner time when the five of us returned to my house. Ash asked if he could spend the night here at my house. I looked at him like he had three heads.

"Why? You have a house just down the road Ash."

"Yeah, but you see, there's nothing in it... My mom refuses to send over all my stuff and I haven't gone shopping for some new furniture yet..."  
"Ashy-boy," I groaned, "We should have done that today instead of going to the park or even training your Pokémon, or transferring all of them here, which by the way, you'll be taking care of their needs. I have the research Pokémon to take care of, as well as mine own from my trainer days. Why didn't you say you needed new furniture?!"

"Hah, whoops. Guess it slipped my mind." Ash said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head like he always does when he apologizes.

I rolled my eyes noticeably, and Ash stuck his tongue out and wiggled it. Shaking my head and trying not to laugh, I said, "Fine, you can stay. You can sleep in the guest bedroom next to mine. We do have a connected bathroom, though. It was all I could get."

Ash cried, "Yay! Thanks Gary! I promise you won't regret it. And I'll go furniture shopping tomorrow. Hey, can we get pizza for dinner?"

"Only if you go pick it up. And I'll come help you shop tomorrow. Arceus knows you'll need it." I said. "I'm gonna move Umbreon's bed down here. She and Pikachu can sleep down here. I'll keep Eevee with me."

Ash nodded, and said, "Pikachu! Detach yourself from Umbreon and come with me to get pizza! Oh, do you have a lot of ketchup?" He asked me.

"Nope. Why don't you go out and get that too while you wait for the pizza? I just like cheese, by the way. You can make it half cheese, half whatever the hell you want, okay?"

"Mhmm got it. Let's go Pikachu!"

"Pikaaaa..." Pikachu said sadly, giving Umbreon a lick on the forehead, before slowly following Ash.

"Come on girls." I said, picking up Eevee, "Let's move Umbreon down here."

* * *

I crawled into bed, yawning hugely. Eevee snuggled up on the pillow next to me, saying, "Vee~" and then promptly falling into a deep slumber. I chuckled.

"Goodnight Eevee." I whispered, and then also fell asleep, dreaming about the boy in the room next to me.

* * *

However, those dreams were interrupted.

"Gary?" a soft voice called out, shaking me gently from my slumber.

I groaned, "What Ash?"

"I had a nightmare from when I was in Unova... I tell you about it tomorrow. But now I can't sleep, and Pikachu is knocked out cold with Umbreon downstairs. Can I, uh, sleep here with you?"

I was wide awake now. I looked at him, totally surprised. "Uhmm, yeah sure. Hold on." I gently grabbed a sleeping Eevee and shifted her position on the bed, and then said, "There." Oh, the advantages of having a queen sized bed.

Ash whispered a hushed thanks, and then settled into the bed next to me. I then realized, _Woah. He's not wearing a shirt._ His bare flesh burned with heat that seared through the thin fabric of my shirt. He quietly whispered, "Goodnight Gary."

I looked back at him, and paused for a second, and then whispered, "'Night Ashy."

* * *

**AN ~ **Whoa. Holy crap that was long. And that was a grand total of... 1,942 words. Daaaammmn I had no idea I could write THAT much, hah. Anyways, please rate and review as always, and I'll see y'all next Wednesday!

~ Love Shadows :)


	4. Author's Notes

Hey all!

I just wanted to say that there won't be a chapter up today. ): Sorry. Homework really got in the way and I haven't even started writing it, haha. But since I do have tomorrow off of school, maybe I can write ahead a couple chapters so that this will never happen again.  
I did, however, just wanted to tell y'all about what I have planned for the story: I was thinking between 15-20 chapters, and possibly a sequel, if I can get the ideas hah. So yeah... That's all I wanted to say. Sorry about not having a chapter for today!

~ Shadows


	5. I Can Only Assume

**AN ~ **Hello! I do have a chapter this week, lol. Homework's still being annoying, and there's a bit of drama (oh, who am I kidding? I have a crapload of drama right now grrr) happening in my life (why must some people be so arrogant and egotistical as Gary? Hah. And why can't boys just be easier to deal with? First world girl probbsss hah). So I did write this pretty last minute. Sorry if it's a tad bit short and a bit abrupt and to-the-point.

Oh, and yeah, I noticed I have been forgetting to say this: I do not own Pokémon. ): sad day. If I did, I wouldn't have to buy the games for myself. Ok, now that I won't get sued…

* * *

**Chapter 3 ~ I Can Only Assume**

I felt the presence of something warm beside me, and I held it closer. It snuggled into my chest, sighing contentedly. I just assumed it was either Eevee or Umbreon. The warmth from the thing lulled me back into a deep sleep.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open in what seemed a short while later, the bright sun once again blinding me. I yawned, and tried to stretch, only to realize that I couldn't move much. _What the…?_ I looked down, and saw Ash snuggled into my chest, our legs tangled in a giant knot. Eevee was in a corner of the bed, pretending to be asleep while trying to not let her laughter show.

"Eevee, shut up." I hissed. I tried to detangle the small boy from me, and I was only greeted with a loud snore and a tighter grip. "Damn," I swore quietly, trying to avoid waking up the sleeping boy. Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to detangle us without him being awake, I took the time to admire the sleeping youth in front of me. _He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. Almost with child-like innocence. It's so adorable… But I know he's never going to feel the same about me, ever. But I can always try, right?_ I smiled to myself, knowing that I would try get my way. That's what stubbornness does to you. Funny things also. My eyes wandered off the sleeping angel's face and towards the ceiling.

"Garryy…. Help…. HELP!" I was alerted by Ash's cries and my eyes snapped down to his once peaceful face, now wrinkled with agitation. "Gary!" he cried again, clearly distraught. I lay, frozen, unsure what to do. Should I wake him? Or should I let the dream pass? But as soon as my name passed through his lips, as a whimper more or less, I had made up my mind.

"Ashy." I said, shaking his shoulder gently. "Wake up Ash."

"No. Five more minutes Cilan. Five more minutes…" he trailed off with a yawn, and his cheek snuggled into my chest even more.

I chuckled. "No, Ash. I'm not this Cilan guy. It's me, Gary, and it's…" I looked at my alarm clock, "Almost 11 in the morning. We slept through breakfast." And I'll be damned, the mention of missing breakfast woke him up faster than a shock from Pikachu could. Unfortunately for both of us, his forehead crashed into the bottom of my jaw with a loud, clean crack.

"Owwww…" Ash whined, not noticing the fact that we were still tangled up together.

"Damn it Ash, that hurt!" I said indignantly. "Oh, and by the way, mind untangling yourself from me?" I didn't hesitate to sound dry at all.

"Wha… oh. CRAP!" Ash looked horrified, a slight pink color filling his cheeks. "Sorry." He muttered, having turned away from me.

"Hah, it's fine Ash. But yes, we did miss breakfast. So get your lazy ass outta bed and get ready. I did promise you we were going furniture shopping today." Ash gave me a terse nod, his eyes trying to avoid mine. _Funny. If I didn't know better, I would say that Ash's genuinely embarrassed about the situation, as if he has a crush on me…_ I shook my head and said, "I claim my shower first."

* * *

"How about this one, Ash? It's made out of ash wood. Get what I did there?" I asked, elbowing the smaller boy in the ribs. He just rolled his eyes, and moved onto the next dresser, staring longingly at its oak wood surface. "That one's made out of oak, Ash."

"I know, I like oak wood. Pretty color, and makes for nice looking furniture."

"Thinking about me? Hah, Ash. I didn't know I was _that_ much of an influence on your life," I said, sniggering quite loudly, especially when Ash's face turned as red as a tomato.

"NO!" he practically shouted, glaring at me.

"Hey, calm yourself down." I held my hands up, shaking my head. "Sheesh. If you want that one, we can get it. I think there was a matching night table too." Ash just nodded, falling unusually silent.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, slightly worried. "Are you mad at me for what I said? I was only kidding."

"No," Ash sighed, "It's not that. Just drop it, ok?"

"Mad about missing breakfast?" I teased, smiling. I was given an eye roll and a tongue wag in return. "How about this?" I said. "I'll buy you ice cream when we're done shopping." I gently and hesitantly put one of my hands on Ash's shoulder. "'Kay?" I asked.

"Yeah, thanks Gary." Ash flashed me one of his trademark smiles that made my heart stop. I smiled back.

"Let me go get someone who works here – we gotta tell them what furniture you wanna buy."

* * *

"Well, Ashy, that was fun, wasn't it? See, I'm not all that bad. I don't bite." I grinned.

"Suuure." Ash said, smiling back. I snapped my teeth at him, pretending like I was going to bite him. Ash faked a look of horror, grinning like a Cheshire cat the whole time.

"Hurry up, Ashy, I wanna get home." I said, my tone changing from a jovial one to a tired one.

"Alright, alright, sheesh. Quit your whining Gary." Ash replied, rolling his eyes as he threw away his now-empty ice cream cup. We walked back onto the path, wandering slightly as I made my way home.

"Hey, Gary? Since my furniture isn't going to come until tomorrow, am I allowed to sleep at your house again tonight?" Ash questioned, avoiding my gaze.

"As long as you stay in your own bed." I joked, cracking a smile. "Of course you can."

"Thanks." Ash said, turning to face me, and walked backwards.

"If you trip and fall flat on your ass, know I'm just gonna laugh mine off." I said.

"Sooo reassuring." Ash said sarcastically. I moved in front of him to unlock my door, and after that, he butted his way between me and my front door, entering first, still walking backwards.

I wish I could of warned him – before we both knew what the heck was happening, Ash was flat on his back, spread eagle, tripped by a very evil looking Umbreon. I soon fell after, thanks to Eevee. Also, thanks to Eevee's 'ingenious' plan, I fell straight on top of him. In the most goddamn awkward position to date.

"Uhhh…" we both said, avoiding eye contact. My cheeks flared up, and I was sure they were a crimson color.

"Sorry about that… they can be a bit evil at times." I said, not moving a muscle, waiting for him to push me off. I was still someone frozen, thanks to the shock.

"'S ok." Ash mumbled, avoiding my gaze for a second, before something I'd never imagined would happen did just that.

He reached up and gently grabbed the sides of my face, turning it so I was facing him. He exhaled loudly, before his forehead touched mine in a very cute gesture. He whispered, "Your eyes… they're so breathtaking." But as soon as it started, he let go, realizing what he had done, and shoved me off of him. "Sorry." He muttered, quite embarrassed based on the red color of his face, and then bolted upstairs, locking both his bedroom door, and the door that led into his room from the jack-and-Jill bathroom, from what I could tell.

"Well." I said out loud, exhaling a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. _Maybe he _DOES_ have a crush on me…_

* * *

**AN ~ **Well, there y'all go! I hope that was good enough for you to tide you all until next week. You thought they were gonna kiss for a second there, didn't you? ;) Hah, not yet.

I apologize for the little bits of cursing here and there. I wasn't able to retain myself as well as I liked.

Oh, and about the stubborn comments? That comes from personal experience hah, so that's pretty darn true.  
See you, my lovelies, next Wednesday!

*Shameless self promotion* Please rate and review! Oh, and I may start a one shot soon, idk. I need ideas first hah. And a shipping too. :) If you have any ideas, feel free to PM me!

~ Shadows


	6. I'M NOT DEAD WOOO

Hey people! I want to apologize for disappearing like that. Dx finals suck lol. But now I should be able to write! In fact, I am in the process of trying to decide what to do for the next chapter lol cause my creative ideas have just gone *poof*.

ALSO ~ If there is anyone out there who would be willing to make a temporary cover page for this story, until I can do one myself, I would love you forever (lol cookies for you if you do). So if anyone can do that for me, please let me know! Thanks!

So, I should have the next chapter up... hm... maybe the end of this week? Idk, we'll have to see how my schedule goes. At the moment, I may be having a repeat of the ear infection/fluid-filled eardrums that I had around New Year's. Ugh. So, yeah... thanks for being such a great group of fans, and I'll shall have some more Gary & Ash fluffiness for you all soon!

~ Shadows


	7. I Really Want To Love Sombody

**AN ~ **Hey all! I have that chapter that should have been up way back when! Lol I just had a lot to do, with final projects and finals studying (Dx not fun. I'd rather have been writing this story), along with lots of swimming (woo swim practice/swimming 6 days of the week! *serious sarcasm*) and my little sister's birthday parties (that was… interesting) but now that all that is over, I should be able to write a lot!

I don't think I've mentioned that on my profile, I update it with the progress of this story, so if I disappear, check to see if I updated that.

Just a small side note ~ I won a t-shirt contest I entered! YAY!

**Disclaimer ~** Sadly, I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

**Chapter 4 ~ I Really Want To Love Somebody**

I really didn't see Ash for the rest of the day. I didn't really have a chance to talk to him either. The only time I saw him was at dinner. He looked like a mess when he came down – pale skin, messy hair, red eyes. I cocked my head slightly to look at him. _Had he been crying?_ I hoped not. He refused to look at me after that… He kept his head down all throughout dinner, and stayed silent. I did too, and it felt uncomfortable. Even the Pokémon were silent. The normally attention-seeking Eevee was quiet and kept to herself. _As terrible as this sounds, I hope she feels bad for what she did._

When Ash and I finished eating, we silently took our dishes to the sink. We both reached the stainless steel sink at the same time, and we both paused at the same time. There was maybe half an arm's length between me and the raven haired boy in front of me – the closest we had been since Eevee's "ingenious" idea. He looked up again, and our eyes met.

"Ash," I whispered, hoping to get his attention, but he just turned and went to go upstairs. I grabbed his upper arm. "Ash," I said again, a bit louder, but still quiet. "Please. Talk to me." The beautiful boy in front of me shook his head and mouthed the word no. "Ash. Please." I begged the boy in front of me to talk to me just so I could hear his sweet voice again, his beautiful laugh, see his face light up. It hurt me to see him like this – so sad, so depressed looking. Again, he just shook his head, refusing once again to look at me. "Ash Ketchum, you are going to talk to me whether you want to or not. So it would be nice if you actually tried so I didn't have to force you to sit there and talk to you," I commanded, and then softened my voice, saying, "Please Ashy. We need to work this out. I-I-It hurts me to see you so sad looking. It's not normal for you. Please."

"Why should I?" came a quiet voice. "Tell me Gary, why should I talk to you? What good will come out of it?" He still refused to look at me. "I know you just want to make fun of me for what I said. I can just tell."

"I don't want to Ashy. I want to just talk to you. If you looked at me, you'd see that."

"No. I don't believe you."

"GODDAMMIT ASH!" I almost yelled. "I'm serious! Alright? I am not going to make fun of you. I want to talk to you. I want you to look at me right now, though, so we can have this conversation. Or I am going to drag you against your will to my room to talk." I wasn't joking around too. Either way, I was going to talk to him. No matter what. At that point in time, I noted that the pokémon vacated the kitchen. _Interesting._

Ash didn't budge. _Alright he wants to do this the hard way._ I gently grabbed the sides of his face, and turned them to face me. "There, that wasn't hard now was it?" I asked, not letting go of his face, for the fear he would turn away. I wanted him to continue looking at me. I wanted to stare into his brown eyes forever. And then I noticed the tears spilling out of those beautiful eyes. I gently wiped them away, soothing the younger boy with "Don't cry Ash. Please. Don't cry." This only caused him to cry more. So I did what I used to do with Daisy or any person I knew who was crying – I pulled Ash into a tight hug, not letting go. I rested my chin on his head, still soothing him. Eventually, I felt his skinny arms wrap around my midsection and him bury his head into my shirt and chest, tears still falling. "Shhh it's alright Ash."

* * *

I'm not sure how long we were standing there hugging, but it felt like a hell of a long time. Eventually, the tears stopped, but the hug didn't. It just felt… so good and so right to be holding Ash like that. I didn't want to let go. But I loosened my arms slightly when I heard a small "Gary?" come from the beautiful creature in front of me.

"Hmm?" I asked as Ash's head appeared and looked at me.

"… I'm sorry for what happened with the whole tripping thing. I just… I have no idea what I wa-"

"It's alright Ash. Just stop there. I didn't mind it at all." I had stopped him in the middle of his sentence with a finger on his lips. I moved it, and leaned my head down to rest our foreheads together, looking him straight in his sienna eyes. "It's alright," I whispered, not moving my eyes. We were so close in that moment. I could hear Ash's heartbeat speed up, and his breath catch for a second at the simple yet romantic position we were in at the moment. I almost smiled at him, because I found it funny and yet adorable at the same time.

I'm sure we could of stayed like that forever if it weren't for a loud "PIKAAA" behind Ash. We slowly separated, still not breaking eye contact, and still breathing hard. He must have realized what I had done (finally), because his face and neck flushed a light pink. I'm sure my face was the same color also, and I could feel the heat radiating off of it. I finally broke eye contact to look at the clock. "Oh. It's 10:00." _Oh my Arceus, we were like that for almost… 3 and a half hours. From when we sat down to eat dinner to now was 3 1/2 hours. Wow._

"I'm gonna go to sleep now Gary," Ash said. I could already see his skin returning to its normal color, and that made me happy.

"Alright Ash. Goodnight." As an afterthought, I said, "If you have another nightmare, you can come into my room, okay?" A simple nod was what I received, as Ash was in the middle of a huge yawn. He left the room, and climbed up the stairs. I heard the soft click of the door shutting, and I leaned against the wall, running my hands through my hair. I took a deep breath to control my breathing and heartbeat. _Did that really just happen? I don't know, but it felt so right, so reall. I want him to stay. Here, in my house, forever._

_I know your inside, you're feeling so hollow._

_And it's a hard pill for you to swallow._

_But if I fall for you, I'll never recover._

_If I fall for you, I'll never be the same._

_I really want to love somebody._

_I really want to dance the night away._

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_I really want to touch somebody._

_I think about you every single day. _

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_You're such a hard act for me to follow._

_Love me today, don't leave me tomorrow, yeah._

_But if I fall for you, I'll never recover._

_If I fall for you, I'll never be the same._

_I really want to love somebody._

_I really want to dance the night away._

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_I really want to touch somebody._

_I think about you every single day. _

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_Oh, oh, oh oh._

_I don't know where to start, I'm just a little lost._

_I wanna feel like we never gone, ever stopped._

_I don't know what to do, I'm right in front of you._

_Asking you to stay, you should stay, stay with me tonight, yeah._

_I really want to love somebody._

_I really want to dance the night away._

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_I really want to touch somebody._

_I think about you every single day._

_I know we're only half way there,_

_But if you take me all the way, you take me all the way._

_Oh, oh, oh, oh._

_You take me all the way, you take me all the way._

* * *

**AN ~** Well there you go! The chapter that should have been up forever ago! Btw, I love the song at the end (I don't own it, Maroon 5 and their record company does). I might use songs every once in a while to help progress the story or explain feelings.

*Shameless self promotion* :D please rate and review! It really helps. Also, let me know, should the next chapter be in Gary's view and the story progresses, or should it be in Ash's view on the fall (starting right about there) and this whole entire chapter? Please, LET ME KNOW! :) I should have another chapter up as soon as I get a couple responses on my questions. Thanks again, and have a nice however long until I post the next chapter!

Love,

Shadows


	8. I Need Your Love

**AN ~** Hey all! So I got plenty of positive feedback over the last chapter. Hopefully I wasn't too rusty as I wrote it. So, since Ash has been pretty quiet and reserved in the past chapter, I think that an Ash POV chapter is in order (: don't you think? So, I hope you enjoy!  
Side note ~ Forgot to mention this – I got a new laptop! With a lot of space, so I should be able to write lots more and be able to save it haha :D

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokémon unfortunately ):

* * *

**Chapter 5 ~ I Need Your Love**

**ASH'S POV –**

"Well Ashy, that was fun, wasn't it? See, I'm not all that bad. I don't bite," came a voice from beside me, from the taller beauty I once called my rival. The smile that he had was so genuine, and it made my heart stutter for just a second. I didn't even notice he called me 'Ashy', his stupid (yet cute…) pet name for me.

"Suuure," I reply, grinning also. _I like this. No hard feelings, no teasing. Just being friends…_

Gary snapped his teeth at me, as if he was going to bite me. I tried to fake a look of horror, but my huge smile was making that a bit hard to do. I continued to eat my ice cream as we tried not to die of laughter.

"Hurry up Ashy, I wanna get home," Gary said a few seconds later, his face betraying how tired he was. He seemed to be whining.

"Alright, alright, sheesh. Quit your whining Gary," I said, and threw in a dramatized eye roll for emphasis as I tossed my now-empty ice cream cup into the nearest trash can. We continued on the path we were on, meandering slightly, as we went back to his house.

A thought occurred to me. _My furniture isn't going to be at my new house until tomorrow._ "Hey, Gary? Since my furniture isn't going to come until tomorrow, am I allowed to sleep at your house again tonight?" I tried not to make eye contact, because it was an awkward question. _Oh get over yourself Ash. You and Gary are friends. Nothing more. It's not that bad of a question._

"As long as you stay in your own bed," he joked, smiling. "Of course you can."

I wanted to die at his joke, but I managed to act normally. "Thanks," I said, turning to face him, and I decided that I wanted to walk backwards. So that's what I did.

"If you trip and fall flat on your ass, know I'm just gonna laugh mine off," Gary said, giving me a curious look.

"Sooo reassuring," I retorted sarcastically, not paying attention to where we were. I almost walked smack into the door to his house. He shoved me out of the way to unlock the door. Once the brunette accomplished this, I shoved him out of the way and went into his house, walking backwards still. Huge mistake.

I have no idea what happened. I'm guessing Umbreon or Eevee or even Pikachu tripped me as I was walking backwards, and I was flat on my back in a matter of seconds, the wind knocked out of me from the force of the fall. Not even two seconds later, Gary was on top of me. Like, right on top of me. How awkward.

"Uhhh…" came from both of our mouths as we both avoided the other's eyes. I felt my face burning up, most likely tomato red. If Iris were here, I'd never hear the end of this.

"Sorry about that… they can be a bit evil at times," the beautiful being on top of me said, not moving at all. _Does he like this?_

"'S ok," I mumbled, still avoiding his mesmerizing leaf green eyes, before I did something I never would have dared to do before. I reached up and gently cradled the sides of his face, turning it softly so we were looking at each other. I let out a huge breath that I hadn't know I was holding, and then slowly brought our foreheads together, to be even closer to his stunning eyes. "Your eyes… they're so breathtaking," I whispered, not breaking eye contact. But then it hit me. _WHAT AM I DOING?! HE DOESN'T LIKE ME LIKE I LIKE HIM! I just practically let him know I like him! CRAPPPP!_ I shoved him off of me, muttering a quick "Sorry" before bolting upstairs, tears threatening to spill. Cilan could have cooked an egg off my face if it was as hot as it felt. When I made it to the guest room, I locked the door from the bathroom to my room, and my room door as well, before collapsing on the bed, silent tears tracing a path down my face.

* * *

I stayed locked in the room for the rest of the afternoon, just crying a silent river. _He's going to be disgusted with me. He's gonna kick me out, he's not gonna want to be my friend anymore. He's probably going to make me move my Pokémon to either be with Professor Rowan or back to Professor Oak. Everything is going to fall apart. Dammit Ash what have you done?!_ I almost ripped out a huge chunk of my hair in frustration, the pain from that temporarily numbing the pain I felt from messing up everything with Gary. I didn't let Pikachu in – I felt bad about that, but I really needed to be alone.

I think I eventually fell asleep, because I don't remember anything between then and hearing Gary knocking on my door softly. "Ash? Please come down for dinner." Then I heard his footsteps retreating, down the stairs. A small whine from Pikachu outside the door could be heard, as if he was enforcing Gary's words and begging me to go eat. I slowly got up and went to the mirror on the dresser. Arceus I was a mess. But I didn't care anymore. I attempted to fix my hair but it wouldn't work, so I left it be. I unlocked the door, and looked down at Pikachu. I gave him a small smile to show I was ok, although I wasn't.

When I was downstairs, I briefly met Gary's eyes, before looking done. Although I said I didn't care, I didn't want him seeing me like this. I refused to look at him, or even speak. We ate in silence. It was awkward, so horribly awkward. Even the normally loud Pokémon were quiet.

When I had finished eating, I got up to go ditch my dishes in the sink, and then was going to continue to wallow in self-pity in my room. I didn't notice that Gary had gotten up at the same time, but I guess he had, because we both were at the sink in the exact same moment. We both faltered for a heartbeat – there was maybe a distance the size of Pikachu in between us. I looked up, and our eyes met.

"Ash." My name was whispered, no doubt an attempt to get my attention, but I didn't want to talk to him. _He's going to kick me out for sure. _I turned and was about to leave and head back to my 'sanctuary', so-to-speak, but I felt him grab my upper arm. I stiffened at the contact, both wanting and not wanting it. "Ash," he said, still talking quietly. "Please, talk to me." _Do I want to? I don't know…_ However, I found myself shaking my head. I wanted to say no, but after crying for hours and not talking, my voice wouldn't work, so I opted to mouth the word instead. "Ash. Please," he begged. I could tell he was desperate to talk to me, but why would I if I knew what was going to happen? I shook my head no again, and refused to make eye contact with the being that I found to be so attractive. _Why? Why do I?_

He adopted a sterner tone and commanded, "Ash Ketchum, you are going to talk to me whether you want to or not. So it would be nice if you actually tried so I don't have to force you to sit there and talk to me." His voice immediately softened as he said, "Please Ashy. We need to work this out. I-I-It hurts me to see you so sad looking. It's not normal for you. Please." _Whoa. Did he just stutter? Or say that me being sad hurts him? And why that pet name AGAIN?_

My voice started to function then, and I replied, "Why should I? Tell me Gary, why should I talk to you? What good will come out of it?" I still didn't want to catch those stunning green eyes. "I know you just want to make fun of me for what I said. I can just tell." I tried not to sound so cold, but how I said it didn't matter, because it would still sound cold.

"I don't want to Ashy. I just want to talk to you. If you looked at me, you'd see that."

I found myself saying, "No. I don't believe you."

"GODDAMMIT ASH!" Gary yelled, startling me. I've never seen or heard him yell or at least raise his voice out of anger. Ever. "I'm serious! Alright? I am not going to make fun of you. I want to talk to you. I want you to look at me right now, though, so we can have this conversation. Or I am going to drag you against your will to my room to talk." _WHAT?! _I didn't move, because I was shocked.

Suddenly, I felt his hands grab the sides of my face gently and turn it to face him. _He's… doing what I did to him… Why?_ I was confused. "There, that wasn't hard now was it?" he questioned, not letting go. The eye contact continued, and for some reason, my vision became blurred as salty tears threatened to spill over, which they eventually did. He moved one hand to wipe them away, and I started to cry harder, but I don't know why. "Don't cry Ash. Please. Don't cry." The soothing words only made it worse as the amount of tears I shed grew. He again surprised me by pulling me into a hug, my head resting on his chest. I eventually hugged him back, soaking his shirt in my tears, but he didn't seem to care. _The gentle creature I knew growing up… he's back._ I felt his chin rest on the top of my head as he continued to murmur, "Shhh it's alright Ash."

* * *

I'm not sure how long we were like that. Even when I stopped crying, he held onto me, not letting go. _I like this. I don't want him letting go._ But I didn't know what time it was, so I said, "Gary?"

I felt his arms loosen slightly, giving me some space to look up at him. "Hmm?" he asked.

"… I'm sorry for what happened with the whole tripping thing. I just… I have no idea what I wa-" I was cut off by one of his fingers pressing against my lips to stop me. He moved it, and went to rest his forehead with mine. _Oh. My. Arceus. This isn't happening. Is it? Or am I asleep?_

"It's alright," he whispered, not breaking eye contact. I didn't want him to either. _We are so close right now. And this time it's willing._ I felt my heart thud dully against my ribcage, and my breath get stuck in my throat. _ Willingly…_ Now I really didn't want to move. I wanted to stay like that all day, every day. But apparently someone else had other ideas.

"PIKAAA," came a high-pitched whine behind me. That was our cue to detach ourselves from the other, but not for the eye contact to break. Both of us had labored breathing. Suddenly, what just happened and what it could have meant became obvious to me, and I felt my face and neck heat up slightly. I could see his face was similar to how mine felt. He finally tore his eyes away from mine, much to my disappointment, to look at his Snorelax clock on the wall.

"Oh. It's 10:00."

Oh wow, we'd been like that for such a long time. _How long, though?_ "I'm gonna go to sleep now Gary," I said, growing tired quickly.

"Alright Ash. Goodnight," he replied then added "If you have another nightmare, you can come into my room, okay?" I yawned, nodding as I did so. I silently left the room and went upstairs. I shut the door softly, then collapsed against it. _Oh wow. What just happened? Because that happened, now I'm convinced he likes me. Gary, I need your love._

_I need your love._

_I need your time._

_When everything´s wrong,_

_You make it feel right._

_I feel so high._

_I go alive._

_I need to be free with you tonight._

_I need your love._

_I need your love._

_…_

_Now I´m dreaming, will I ever find you now?_

_I walk in circles, but I´ll never figure out_

_What do I mean to you, do I belong?_

* * *

**AN ~ **Well that's another chapter! And a long one too! I don't own the section of song at the end, Calvin Harris does. I did this to build on Ash's character, and really show you guys how he feels (; hope you liked! Please, rate and review, it keeps me going! I will switch back to Gary POV next chapter. See y'all when I next post!

Love,

Shadows(:


	9. Another Author's Note (I know, I know)

Hey guys!

Alright, so I went on vacation, right? I had hoped that a break would help my creative juices flow, and I would have a new chapter up within days of coming home, cause I had been having a writer's block after the last chapter. Well, guess what? It didn't help. Lmao, it might have made it worse. Anyways, since school starts next week, the updates will be sparse, but I am going to have another chapter up before then, I will make it happen. Even if it's a totally sucky chapter, I will have one up by Friday, I promise. I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything yet guys. Nothing has come to me lately though (probably because of school haha). I will try to maintain a weekly updating schedule while in school, but it may be biweekly.

Also, if someone would like to be a beta, I would love it. I know qfaceq was my editor, and I still might use them; however, having a real beta might be useful also. If you're interested, PM me, please!

Also, I don't mind chatting with you guys (: if you have ideas for this story, and I've disappeared for a while, go ahead and shoot me a PM, cause I most likely am having a writer's block. I also accept one-shot ideas if you want one, just make it a teen rating. I can't guarantee I would hold my tongue though haha.

Again guys, I'm really sorry I haven't been active, but there's been a lot going on in real life, and I just hit a wall. Hopefully I'll have another (awesome and fluffy) chapter up for you guys by the time school starts!

With much love,

Shadows


	10. Little Talks

**AN: **Omg I'm so sorry for not writing D: I have a chapter now! Haha.

The inspiration for this chapter came from a song that I have grown to love so much in the past two or three days lol. On that note, school starts soon Dx who's not excited? MEEEEEE lmao. Anyways, here's the next chapter! If you can guess what this chapter's "theme" song is, then find it on YouTube or something and play it as you are reading. It would make the chapter better(: Oh, and I may use strange phrases or words that seem British – I am not British in any sort of way, I just like saying them haha. I did bump the rating up to M now, because my language got away from me. Sorry guys lol if you want someone to blame for the language, blame my swim team friends. It's all there fault, but I still love them (well, almost all of them :P)

OH! I forgot! A sequel idea literally came to me the minute before I wrote the authors note at 9:25pm EST on 8/20/2013 lmao. I think you guys will like it; it should have a LOT of fluffiness between our two favorite anime characters(: Now, ONWARDS WITH THE CHAPTER!

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do not own Pokémon, nor am I ever going to): sad day for all.

* * *

**Chapter 6 ~ Little Talks**

**GARY POV -**

The next morning, I woke up more tired than I have ever felt in my life. I hadn't slept well the past night – what had happened between Ash and I, in addition to me worrying about Ash and his nightmares – had kept me up until early the next morning. I probably had gotten 3-4 hours of sleep total. Plus, I would have to go to work today. I groaned, flopping an arm over my eyes. _Just bloody fantastic_. An amused laugh rang throughout my room, and I bolted upright to see Ash leaning against my door frame, already dressed and ready for what today had to throw at him. "How the hell are you up and ready before I am?" I asked, thoroughly confused. Ash just shrugged, a huge grin still lighting up his face. Because I knew I wasn't going to get an answer, I fell backwards, and mumbled, "Wake me up tomorrow please."

Ash, in an amused tone, responded, "Can't Gary. My furniture arrived just now. I was coming to tell you that I was leaving. I'm also looking for Pikachu. He's not downstairs, so I thought he might be up here in case Umbreon came back up to watch Eevee. Guess he's not up here." **(AN: Where could they be? *wink wink*)** I felt the bed sink down by my feet, and assumed Ash had sat down on the edge. "Now are you gonna sit up and give me a proper goodbye or are you gonna pretend I don't exist?" He poked me in the stomach.

I rolled my eyes, and muttered, "Fine, I'm up, unfortunately. Give me time to take a shower and then I'll give you this 'proper goodbye' so desire so badly." I noticed a light pink blush tinge his face when I said that I was going to take a shower. This fact made me smirk to myself, and I rolled over to get out of bed, effectively rolling into Ash and shoving him off the bed. He got up quickly, shot an angry and embarrassed glare at me, and stalked out of my room to somewhere I didn't know at the time. Once he was out of earshot, I laughed as I went and retrieved a fresh shirt, pair of jeans, and other necessary items out of my dresser, and then made my way to my shower. A hot shower sounded really nice right now.

* * *

After a refreshing shower, I headed down the stairs to wait for Ash. Said boy, however, was already waiting in my living room. No, waiting isn't the right word. Pacing is. The shorter boy didn't seem to notice me, as he was too caught up in his thought, muttering them out loud. I silently leaned against the door into the room, intent on hearing some of Ash's deepest, darkest secrets. Little did I know, I would be the main subject of those secrets.

"What is wrong with me?! My head normally isn't in the gutter – so why did I get those thoughts?! Is N rubbing off on me? Eewww Touya can deal with those for all I care. Good luck to him..." Ash trailed off, closing his eyes as his face turned pink. _Who are Touya and N? Are they from Unova?_ The beautiful boy started to talk again. "Damn, Touko and Cheren were right. Freaking know-it-alls. I don't want to admit that fact though. Oh, what the hell. Maybe repeating it over and over again will make it easier for me to accept it. I'm gay. I'm gay. Oh my Arceus that's making it sound even worse. Goddammit." Ash's right hand came up to rub his face in a tired way. "I'm kinda glad my furniture came. I don't know how much longer I can be around Gary before I stupidly tell him that I'm practically in love with him. He'd just scoff at me and say that I'm weird and doesn't want to be my friend anymore. I can't screw up what we have now…"

He stopped pacing and looked at the door. "Oh," he said, looking at me. "How long have you been standing there?" He looked nervous, as if he was about to faint. _Poor Ash._

"From the whole 'head in the gutter' comments until now."

"…" Ash was surprisingly silent, and then said, "Shit." I gaped at him – he'd never cursed from what I knew up until today. _Where did that come from?_

I hadn't know I had said that out loud until he said, "If you want someone to blame, it's partially you, partially Silver from Johto." I raised one eyebrow, curious as to who he was.

"Who is Silver? Oh, and who are Touya, N, Touko, and Cheren? Plus, you may have mentioned a Cilan before. Who are they?" I cocked my head to the side slightly, curious for his response.

Ash swallowed loudly. "Uhh… As I said, I met Silver while traveling through Johto. Cilan is one of the gym leaders for Unova – the first one. He is a triplet, and is the 'grass' brother. His brother Chili is the 'fire' brother, and Cress is the 'water' brother. Cilan is an A Class Pokémon Connoisseur too. Touya and Touko are twins – an inseparable brother and sister duo. They're really good trainers and they kick ass. Cheren is one of their friends, and now a gym leader. He's really an insufferable know-it-all, and always does stuff 'by-the-book', so-to-speak. N is an interesting character. He's the 'son' of Ghetsis Harmonia, the leader of Unova's 'Team Rocket', or Team Plasma. N has tea green hair, and can speak to Pokémon, no lie. He's advocating for them to be released, but since he started dating Touya, he hasn't been too bad. N's full name is actually Natural Harmonia Gropius." Ash winced at N's name. "Poor guy. That's why he goes by N. And he really fills up to that middle name… He has no understanding that no one wants to see PDA's at all."

I just stared at him. "And what's this about practically loving me?" As I said this, I moved until I was literally an inch away from the other boy. Ash turned his head, his face as red as a tamato berry.

"Uhhh I didn't say that. Are you crazy?" He let out a shaky but beautiful laugh.

"I heard you loud and clear Ash. Don't mistake me for a fool." I said in a near whisper, and Ash backed up. I followed him. Suddenly, he was flat against the wall, palms against the wall, fingers splayed out, feet against the baseboard. I was a mere inch away from him again, both hands braced against the wall, next to his adorable face. He was looking up at me, and I was looking down at him. Our noses were practically touching. Ash shifted uncomfortably, trying to escape. "Nope. You're not moving, Ashy-boy, until you stop lying to me." He growled at me when I spoke his pet name that I gave him. "Stop making cute noises or you're never leaving." He just glared at me.

"Why are you doing this Gary?"

"Is this torturing you?"

"Hell yes," he muttered. I moved my head ever so slightly to whisper in his ear, "Good. Then I'm getting half of what I want. But I want the truth. Now, are you going to cooperate?" Ash let a small shiver roll down his spine, and I smirked. I let out a purposeful breath of air on his ear before moving to look in his endless chocolate-brown eyes.

"No," he stated, looking confident.

I smirked. "More punishment then?" I turned my head to the right slightly, and got even closer to his face. Our lips were practically touching, and when he spoke, it was like we were kissing, but we weren't.

"Please don't Gary," he whimpered, "I'll friggin cooperate okay?" I pulled my head back a little. "Alright. Now tell me the truth."

He looked scared out of his mind. He mumbled, "I may just like you more than I bloody should."

"R-really?" I questioned, my heart rate starting to pick up as my mind screamed, _HE LIKES ME, HE REALLY LIKES ME BACK!_ "I… I didn't expect this…"

"…" He looked away, and then shoved me hard off of him. I fell flat on my ass, shocked. I didn't move as I watched the boy run out my front door, about to cry. I didn't even get to say what I was going to next. I whispered out loud, "I may just like you more than I bloody should too Ash. Oh hell, I love you too Ash." I felt one of my Pokémon climb into my lap, trying to comfort me as I felt the burn of oncoming tears. They fell silently as Eevee tried to comfort me. I still sat there, stunned, not moving.

* * *

Dammit it's only been 3 hours and I already wish he was back, inches from me. I wish he had given me the chance to tell him I felt the same way. I wish I could have told him I'd always be there, that I'd take his hand when he was scared, hold him when he had his nightmares. I wish he was there so the house didn't feel empty, so I had someone to have little talks with, just like it was when we were young. When we were full of life and full of love.

_I don't like walking around this old and empty house._

So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear.

_The stairs creak as I sleep, it's keeping me awake._

It's the house telling you to close your eyes.

_And some days I can't even dress myself._

It's killing me to see you this way.

**'Cause the truth may vary, **

**This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore. **

**(Hey)**

**(Hey)**

**(Hey)**

_There's an old voice inside my head that's holding me back._

Well tell her that I miss our little talks.

_Soon it will be over and buried with our past._

We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love.

_Some days I don't know if I'm wrong or right._

Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear.

**_…_**

**You're gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear.**

**All that's left is a ghost of you.**

**Now we're torn, torn, torn apart, there's nothing we can do,**

**Just let me go, we'll meet again soon.**

**Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around,**

**I'll see you when I fall asleep.**

* * *

**AN: **Aaaaaaaand that's the chapter! I checked up on the Silver thing – he did appear as a cameo in one of the movies. I do not own this song – Of Monsters and Men do, and their record company. I imagine Ash as the female singer, and Gary as the male. In the lyrics above, the female's parts are italicized and the male's are not, while bold is both. Yes, I did use Touko and Touya. Honestly, I hate the names Hilbert and Hilda. *shrugs* Plus ***WARNING: FAN GIRL MOMENT ABOUT TO HAPPEN*** I LOVE TOUYA omfg he's so much better looking that Nate. My God, what's going on with Nate's hair?! Touya's sprite is pretty damn good looking, if I do say so myself lololol.

When I read 6XxBladeXx9's review, man that made my day :') I just wanted to say all you people who reviewed are my favorite people ever. You guys are totally amazing, and I wouldn't have updated this story without y'all. Like, 14 reviews? 14 favorites? And 21 followers? That's way more than I ever thought I would get. You guys are just the best damn fans a high school girl could have(:

I will take requests for stories and one-shots, as long as it's PG-13 (minus the language of course haha). So please please PLEASE PM me ideas! Also, please rate and review! Share with your friends! Please!

I love you all sooooo much and I'll have a chapter up when I can! Maybe an Ash POV of this chapter instead. But anyways, see ya next chapter!

~ Shadows


	11. Haunted, Part 1

**AN:** Hey guys! I have another chapter! This chapter idea came to me very quickly, which made me happy(: anyways, this chapter is a little different. It's not told from Ash's POV, or Gary's POV. This person I made a little… violent to one other character, and she swears like a sailor (a combo of a friend and I haha). Like, she says the word fuck a lot. So if you're not comfortable with this character abusing the word fuck, then you can suck it up and deal. Get it? Got it? Good(:

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I only own the plot idea.

* * *

**CHAPTER 7 ~ HAUNTED PART UNO**

**TOUKO POV -**

I hate Iris so much right now, it's not even funny. I want to be back in Unova, hanging out with Cress, Cilan, and Chili. Don't get me wrong, Sinnoh is a nice region. But the mountain through the middle (Mount Coronet?), it's lack of urban sprawl, and it's set-up isn't something I prefer. Plus, the routes here are labeled really weirdly. Like, we're walking down Route 202. Are there 201 other routes in the region or something? Seriously. Plus, these Pokémon are so weird. This little plant bud attacked us (A Budew I think), and then some stupid brown rat/beaver thing walked by (A Bidoof?), looking clueless. I don't get this region! Why did Iris bring me if she knew I fucking hate change?!

"We're almost there guys. We should be approaching Sandgem Town in a minute - that's where he said he lives. Or at least, I think."

"CHEREN!" I screamed. "HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT KNOW!"

He winced. "Because he didn't give me a definite location yet! I don't know if he's moved in yet!"

"Hey, look!" Touya, my idiotic twin brother, said, pointing towards a building with a familiar sprawling layout, and a huge field behind it. "A Pokémon Lab. Let's go ask the Professor and see if they can give us to directions to Ash's house!" He started sprinting towards the building. I shook my head. A fucking idiot, like I said.

When we all caught up with him, and had regained our breath, Iris reached up and knocked the door. Touya stood on my left, Cheren on my right. Iris was in front of us naturally. We waited for a few heartbeats before a "HOLD ON! I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" carried through the door.

When the door opened up, I almost gasped. The guy was tall, with brown spiky hair, and leaf green eyes. He had on a white lab coat, with reading glasses, and some Pokémon standing at it's feet, cheerfully crying, "EEVEE!" I elbowed Cheren hard in the ribs.

"Ow!" he breathed. "What was that for Touko?"

"That's him. That's our guy. That guy that Ash was talking about." Cheren's head whipped around to stare at the guy, and then gave a barely perceptible nod.

"Yeah, that's him."

While we were talking, Iris had been talking with the Professor, trying to get out of him where Ash was. When she said his name, his breathing faltered for a second, and then he said, "I have no idea who you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me, I have resea-"

"Lies!" Iris exclaimed. She proceeded to argue with the brunette about where our friend was. I ignored the conversation, about to pick up my conversation with Cheren again when I caught sight of my brother. He was unfocused, and his eyes had a funny look to them. Oh shit, not again. Not here, not now Touya! I pinched him in the arm hard, and he hissed in pain, glaring at me. I smirked. Then we heard Iris say, "Finally! About damn time you told me where he is. Thank you so much Professor!" With that, she turned and proceeded to walk to Ash's house… which was next door.

As soon as we were out of the young Professor's sight, I gave Touya a huge slap to the back of the head. "STOP FUCKING THINKING ABOUT N!" He looked at me, and I huffed, stomping ahead of him. When we reached his house, we stopped. But somehow in 5 seconds, Touya got all wrapped up in his thoughts about N again, and didn't notice we stopped. He crashed into my back, knocking me forward into Cheren, who fell on Iris, knocking us all into the ground. "YOU LITTLE!" I said, getting really pissed off with that little shit faster than normal. "JUST YOU WAIT -" I was cut off by a familiar laugh.

"ASH!" Iris squealed, shoving Cheren off of her and sprinting to squish Ash into oblivion. Cheren and I snickered at Ash's horrified expression.

"Why are you guys here? I mean, I'd love the company, but seriously, I didn't get to give you all my address? How did you find my house?" He looked incredulous.

"Because we're totally awesome like that," came my response as I smirked at the coal-haired boy and flicked my hair with my hand. He smiled, and said, "Why don't you guys come in?" We all walked in, but Touya was still standing there, lost in thought. "Oh my fucking Arceus," I muttered, about to smack him harder than ever, when Cheren grabbed my arms. Ash walked up to Touya calmly, and snapped his fingers in his face. Touya's eyes focused again.

"Oh, we're going inside? Oops…" he turned a bit pink in the face, and it was so hard to restrain myself. I almost broke free of Cheren's grasp when his arm wrapped around my waist to drag me into Ash's living room.

"You need to stay calm and focused Touko. You said that to all of us, and yet, you're not doing either of those."

I huffed. "You know why I'm not doing that. Touya won't fucking stop thinking about N and probably imagining them making out or something like that!" Cheren's face twisted into one of disgust, and he shook his head, muttering something that sounded like too much information. I smirked, and that's when the rest of our party and our gracious host decided to show up.

Once we were all sitting, Ash said, "So, why are you all here? And why didn't Cilan or-" I cut him off with a glare, so he wouldn't say that name. "Where's Cilan?" he corrected himself.

"Cilan decided that four people was too many, and wanted to stay back. He'll come visit you eventually. 'It' isn't here so he," I pointed to my idiot brother, "would focus while we were here. And we're here cause why not? We wanted to come say hi and tour the region a bit." Ash nodded. An uncomfortable silence ensued, until Iris said something that completely broke it.

"So who's the professor next door?"

Ash's face turned bright pink, and it would put a Alomomola to shame. "Uhm, I don't know, I just moved in today. I haven't had a chance to meet anyone yet." I knew he was lying. He was avoiding all our eyes, especially me and Cheren's eyes. I felt a small tap on my back. Cheren was telling me that the professor definitely was our guy. I smirked at him.

"Stop lying Ash." He started to protest, but I cut him off. "I know you're lying." I glanced over at my brother, and he was fucking zoning out again. Holy shit, he must be fucking suicidal or some shit, cause he knows I'll kill him. I gave him another smack, this time to the front of his face.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!" he screamed.

"PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!" I roared.

"Hey, Touko, calm down. Here, do you want to battle? That is, if Ash doesn't mind at all, of course." Ash had no objections as usual, and then Cheren, being the genius I know he is, said, "Why don't you referee Ash?" Without waiting for a response, Cheren grabbed my arm and dragged me out Ash's front door.

"Lets go battle on Route 201?" Ash suggested once he was outside. Cheren and I both nodded.

While we were walking to a spot that Ash knew was good for battling, he asked us, "So what's going on between you two? You guys seem even closer than before."

I looked sideways at Cheren, my eyes asking for permission to tell the coal haired boy. He nodded, and I took a deep breath. "Alright. I'll tell you, but you have to keep your trap firmly shut about this. We're keeping it a secret, and we want it to stay that way." Ash nodded his head yes, and made a motion similar to zipping his lips. I fucking snorted at that. Then, I said, "Cheren and I may or may not be dating at the moment."

"WHAT?! No way, you're lying to me." Our faces must have told him we weren't, cause he said, "Oh Arceus you guys aren't freaking lying." He looked back at us and said, "You guys can, like, you know… hold hands or something if you want. I don't care. I mean, I know now so you don't have to hide it from me."

I felt Cheren's hand slip into mine and lace our fingers together, and I smiled at him. He's grown up a lot since the day we both began our journeys with our other friend, Bianca. You can get N to ask Cheren's Serperior if you don't believe me. He really has.

* * *

After our battle, which I won of course, we sat down in the grassy field that Ash found for our battle. All three of us did. I turned to Ash and said, "So what's the real deal with you and that professor next door?"

When Ash hesitated, Cheren spoke up. "You can trust us, you know. We're not going to tell anyone if you don't want us too. I doubt Touya would be listening anyways." When he mentioned my brother, his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him, and I rested my head on his shoulder comfortably.

After another few seconds of silence, he let out a huge breath. "Alright, I'll tell you. I'm not sure if you guys know, but that's him. Like, the guy I was talking about."

"We figured that much out when we stopped to ask where your house is when it was fucking right next door."

"Hah, really? Anyways, well, I spent a few days at his house cause my mom refused to send me my stuff and I needed furniture. The first day we kinda spent catching up about all the years we had missed in each other's lives, and kinda just spending time together, as friends. Oh yeah, and I went running around his house and almost fell cause he was 'chasing' me and he had to grab me to make sure I didn't smash my face in and that was pretty awkward. He got pretty pissed though when he found out that I didn't have any furniture and that we should have been looking for that instead, but whatever. But then, that night, I had nightmares about that," Ash visibly shuddered, and I frowned, "and I ended going up to sleep in his bed with him." His cheeks flushed. "I mean, nothing really happened, unless you count me somehow rolling over in my sleep and holding onto him like he was my damn lifeline, then yes, something may have happened." I was shocked. Wow, I guess Cheren looked shocked too cause Ash laughed. "That day we went furniture shopping. Gary thought I was getting the oak wood furniture because of him." He snorted. "As if. I'll have you know that I do like oak wood furniture, because it reminds me of the furniture in my room at home in Kanto. That evening was terrible though." I raised one eyebrow questioningly at that. It seemed to be going really well - what went wrong? "I was being an idiot, and decided to walk backwards through Gary's front door, where his Umbreon was waiting to ambush and trip me, and then Eevee, who ironically is the daughter of Umbreon and Pikachu, tripped Gary and he fell right on top of me. I did something extremely stupid and I don't want to say what I did, but I got out of there faster than a Charmander runs from a Squirtle's water gun attack. I spent the whole afternoon up there, because I thought he would kick me out after what I did, because he didn't like me like I did. I fell asleep and then he woke me up for dinner eventually. It was all awkward and silent until we had a small fight in the kitchen afterwords, and then I ended up crying somehow and then he was hugging me and it lasted for Arceus knows how long and it was amazing." His face flushed even brighter, if that was possible. "And then today happened. I got up before him, a miracle I know, and was ready before he was even up. I went on a Pikachu hunt because I had no idea where he was at the time, and my search ended up taking me to his room. I told him that my furniture was in and that I was leaving, and that I wanted a proper goodbye before I left. He said that he'd give me one after he took a shower, and then my mind went there. Like, N and Touya there. Like, I have no idea what the hell happened. Then I was pacing down in his living room waiting to say bye and I was muttering to myself I guess and he heard everything and then it escalated so quickly from there. He heard me say that… he heard me say that I was practically in love with him." He ducked his head, and I could see he was about to cry. "He ended up pinning me against a wall, literally centimeters from my face at one point. He even whispered stuff in my ear which gave me goosebumps, and that scared me. And then I had to fully admit to him that I liked him, and he just stood there speechless. Not wanting to hear him say the words, I shoved him and ran to my house, where I just let it out. And that's all so far."

I was speechless too. And then I reached over and lightly smacked Ash in the face. He looked at me like, what the fuck was that for? I said, "You idiot! He totally likes you. He was being nice and everything! Plus, when Iris mentioned your name, his breathing faltered for a second, and he immediately denied knowing you. It was quite funny." I smirked. "But he likes you. I can tell. You need to tell him Ash."

Cheren said, "I second that. As you were telling us what happened, I was analyzing Gary's behavior in my head, and concluded he totally likes you too."

I nudged Cheren with my shoulder. "Please don't go all geeky on our asses again, please?" He looked hurt, but was somewhat smiling, so I knew he didn't take it too seriously.

"I don't want to." Ash said quietly, and I frowned slightly.

"I have an idea." Cheren said. "How about Touko and I go over to talk to him? Get his story. Maybe bring Iris with us, because she managed to get where you lived out of him."

"Bring me with you guys where?"

"IRIS!" Ash screamed, horrified. "How much did you hear?!"

"Nothing, except Cheren's idea. Who's him?"

Ash let out a huge sigh and let his face fall into his hands. "Alright, but you have to swear like these two not to repeat a word I say or I will have to hurt you or something."

"I promise." came Iris' reply.

* * *

"OH MY FREAKING ARCEUS ASH YOU ARE SO DENSE!" Iris screeched, slapping Ash in the face also.

"What is it with people slapping each other today?" Cheren grumbled, and I lightly smacked his arm, smirking at him. He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"So let me get this straight. Cheren, Touko, and I are now going to go over to visit this Gary guy and get out of him how he feels about Ash, right?"

"Right," I said, nodding.

"Alright. Come on guys, we have some serious shit that needs to happen right now."

* * *

**AN:** Alright, this chapter is going to be in two parts, cause it seriously ran away from me. Therefore, there will be no song in this half, but there will be in the next half.

I will be answering reviews down here from now on.

Oh, and I don't have swim practices on Wednesdays, so I may be able to write a chapter on Saturdays, and then edit it and have it done to be posted Wednesdays when I come home from school!  
So, some drama ensues. I told you guys Touko would be violent and would swear a lot(:

Here's a list of the side pairings I intend to reference in this story: Touko/WhitexCheren (Cheren has grown up a lot so Touko started to like him, and they ended up dating); NxTouya/Black (cause I freaking felt like it); IrisxCilan (I have no idea why but I want to, and its my story, so I will do as I damn please)

As always, please remember to rate and review! I'd love feedback, and I love hearing from all of you amazing people(:  
Oh, and who else has been watching the National Zoo's Panda Cams as diligently as the can to see the cub? I know I have(:

I'll see y'all next week with the second half to this chapter!

Much love!

~ Shadows

6XxBladeXx9 ~ don't worry, it made me laugh too, when I went back and re-read it again(: and yes you did get mentioned(: ikr? Ash, he loooooves youuu come back to him(: the Ash monologue came out of nowhere. I had planned for the roles to be switched up until the wall part, but I decided the way I wrote it made much more sense. And thank you, you are too (:


End file.
